Not-guilty plea entered to jail assault charges

WOODLAND — A Davis homicide suspect pleaded not guilty Tuesday to new charges involving her alleged assault on two correctional officers at the Yolo County Jail.

The new case against Aquelin Crystal Talamantes will be handled separately from her murder case, which accuses her of fatally assaulting her 5-year-old daughter, Tatiana Garcia, on Sept. 26 at the family’s Glide Drive home. Coroner’s officials say drowning was the girl’s cause of death.

A preliminary hearing in the assault case is set for March 7. Yolo County sheriff’s officials say Talamantes, 29, fought with two officers at the jail after she refused to return to her cell on the evening of Feb. 14. Her new charges include two felony counts of battery on a correctional officer and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.